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To make it perfectly clear, we’re not talking about how penguins deal with a bout of the cold. Not talking about to survive being sick. We’re trying to be hip, you know, SICK survival skills…never mind. Recent word comes to us from a sometimes environmentalist wacko (thanks, Rush) website called MongaBay.com that penguins used to be a lot bigger than they are now. In fact,a giant species of penguin roamed the earth 36 million years ago.

Dog years, people years, penguin years – that’s a long time no matter how you’re counting. Of course, these ancient penguins were five feet tall and brown and gray. They’ve shrunk and put on a tuxedo since then but are still kicking. That’s what it’s about when it comes to survival. Adaptability.

How are your adaptability skills? Are prepared to test your survival skills against the best life can throw at you? While it’s true we all ultimately fail the survival test, the fun is in seeing how long we can last. Better to die of old age than a spectacular display of poor judgment (we put sushi, bungee jumping, and stock market investing in this category).

Seriously, take a moment or three and analyze the areas in your life that could possibly go terribly, horribly awry and threaten your family or your economic stability. Loss of a job? Already dealing with that one. Widespread economic implosion? Spooky. Natural disaster? Preparations made. If not, what’s taking you so long? If watching another episode of Survivor is the extent of your survival training, maybe it’s time to re-assess your state of readiness so you don’t become the next extinct species in a long line of Darwinian failures.

36 million years is an impressive stretch of time. The penguins did it. Can you?